Filed under: Cell PhonesTryphone.com launched today with an ambitious site that promises to make shopping for a mobile phone easier for consumers by letting them virtually test features and functions. Most of us have some experience shopping for a mobile phone, but that doesn't make us all experts in handsets, service, or which billing plan to choose. Having at least a sense of a how a phone works (which buttons to push to retrieve voice mail, which icon to tap for web access and how to store and look up contact information) before heading out to the retail store can go a long way to helping make a decision. Confusing billing plans and spotty coverage areas remain to confound us, but Tryphone.com thinks it has a good solution to making us smart on feature sets.The site lets you "test" a mobile phone online, with a graphical representation of a phone's screen and buttons. Yes, many mobile phone manufacturers and service providers have similar demos on their sites (like the Switched.com gift guide recommended Nokia N95 demo), but each phone's site is different, making different devices difficult to compare. By presenting each phone in a common setting, the site's users get a little closer to an "apples to apples" comparison.Still, the demos seem a bit clunky and it may be a bit of a stretch to say you can get a real feel for how a phone will work. Despite our doubts, we had fun running several of the preprogrammed demos for each phone listed. That alone may be enough to help a consumer with a purchase decision. Tryphone.com did launch with that little word "beta" below its name on the home page, which means there's still some work to be done. Tryphone says it will be adding new models to its current small selection of admittedly hot items such as the Apple iPhone, LG Muziq, Samsung Juke and Blackberry Pearl. Eventually, Tryphone plans to feature virtual demos of upcoming phones before they hit retails shelves, which will give consumers an advance opportunity to covet a new device. Related Links:AT&T to Phase Out Pay Phones By 2009The Switched Holiday Gift Guide Is HereNeed Buying Advice? Ask an Owner Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: ComputersWe tried to come up with some jokes about bouncing breasts for this post, but found most of them to be too juvenile and tasteless, so we'll skip the snark and just give you the facts. Many of our female readers know first hand that jogging or doing any other physical activity can leave your breasts bouncing around semi-uncontrollably, even in the best of sports bras. And while many of our male readers might enjoy the spectacle, it can actually be quite painful and even lead to permanent nerve damage in the shoulders of women with larger breasts.A new fabric with sensors built in is letting undergarment designers test bras for strain and support. The new technology is helping pinpoint areas of particular pressure and adjust designs accordingly to minimize bounce and stress on problem areas. It will of course take a little while for the new designs built on research done with the "smart bras" to trickle out to the consumer, but women can look forward to an athletic future with less pain.From Daily MailRelated links:Top 11 Geek T-ShirtsSmart Clothing Monitors Health"Smart" Closet Helps Geeks Avoid Fashion Faux Pas Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Computers, Celebrities, GoogleIn case you haven't been following along with our occasional coverage of John C. Dvorak, we think he could lighten up a bit. This angry man has made a career out of bemoaning everything from Web 2.0 to the iPhone, and now the OLPC XO, the laptop designed for children in developing countries. Dvorak thinks that the OLPC XO is a slap in the face of the developing world. A modern day "let them eat cake," to steal his analogy. Allow us to boil down Dvorak's arguments for you:Money would be better spent donating $200 worth of riceMillions of people are starving to deathKids will be spammed and see adsThere are bomb-making instructions onlineThere are lots of illiterate people Yes, there are places in the world where people are starving and the money would be better spent on basic necessities. But are they really the intended audience? The laptops are clearly aimed at those where information and education are the biggest concerns. Handing people food is great, but "teach a man to fish" and all that jazz. Not to mention that many countries would be better off without our charitable donations and heavily subsidized agricultural goods. They drive down prices in foreign lands, keeping local farmers from being able to make a living. We also want to take issue with a particular piece of information that Dvorak takes from a "world hunger website:""Nearly one in four people, or 1.3 billion -- a majority of humanity -- live on less than $1 per day."Wait, what? "one in four" is 25 percent, "1.3 billion" is less than half the population of China, and some how that's a majority? The most recent estimates actually put the population of the Earth at around 6,634,570,959 which would mean one in four would be closer to 1.7 billion. None of those three figures align. As for his concern that these poor children have to deal withj spam, all we can say is, "oh well." Life is too short to worry about Viagra ads in a child's inbox. Then there are his worries about the type of information available on the internet, such as bomb making instructions. If Dvorak is worried that these children don't even have water, what is the likelihood that they'd have bomb making materials?And, finally, Dvorak suggests that the OLPC laptop would be useless since there are large populations of illiterate children in Africa. I don't know if he's been paying attention, but the whole purpose of this thing is to get educational materials to children through the laptop so that they won't be illiterate. Referenced story from PC MagazineRelated links:Cranky Tech Journalist Thinks Another Bust is ComingDoes the Media Love Apple Too Much? Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Cell Phones, Advice, Switched VideoText messages can cost a fortune, in some cases as much as one dollar per text. But there's a much cheaper way to text by using a mobile instant message client. And by cheaper, we mean free. Related Links:Watch TV Online for FreeHow to Rescue a Wet Cell PhoneSwitched Show on iTunes, also for Free Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, Video Games, iPodThere is one sure fire way to make the normally quiet and geeky Bill Gates a little peeved -- question his company's record of "capitalizing on the innovation of others." According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop, that's exactly what a blogger, Jonathan Snook, did at a small meeting between the online-citizen journalists of the tech world and the founder/honcho of Microsoft at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington.This line of questioning, which essentially accused Microsoft of copying other people's inventions, sent the bespectacled founder into a tirade about how Microsoft does all the stupid things first, and that other companies, learning from Microsoft's mistakes, are able to build perfect versions of a particular product or service (and subsequently get the credit for being innovators). Gates declared that what Microsoft does is the baseline for the entire industry, and whatever it doesn't do is the innovation. And by that definition everyone else is innovating. That's a pretty innovative, if not a little sarcastic, save/explanation.But seriously, Gates cites IPTV and tablet computers as two areas in which Microsoft is leading the pack. "Is anyone else doing tablet computers?" he asks.We understand Gate's being upset, and he makes some good points in his sarcastic rant about everyone borrowing from each other (with particular attention paid to Apple of course). But we do have to question some of his claims. Sure, there are plenty of Microsoft Office and Word clones out there, but Word was far from the first word processor on the PC. Microsoft's entry only got copied after it crushed the competition, namely Wordperfect and Lotus. We racked our brains trying to think of where other companies had blatantly copied Microsoft and actually came up empty. If you've got any examples, be sure to leave them in the comments, in the meantime make sure to check out the gallery below of Microsoft's other "me too" products and services (including everything from Zune and Xbox 360 to the original Windows and MSN, which were inspired by the early Mac OS and the product of our parent company AOL, respectively).How about you? Do you think Microsoft's reputation as a copycat is deserved, or is Bill Gates right when he says that his company does, in fact, innovate?%Gallery-11572%From SeattlePIRelated Links:New Apple TV Ads Make Fun of Microsoft VistaIPTV Coming to Xbox 360 with Fall Update?Next Version of Windows Detailed10 Dumbest And/Or Funniest USB Gadget Gifts Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: ComputersThere's a controversy brewing on Wikipedia. Reuters reports that German politician Katina Schubert, a deputy leader of the Left party, has filed charges against Wikipedia for "promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany." She filed the charge on grounds that Wikipedia's German language site contained too much Nazi symbolism, particularly that found in an article on the Hitler Youth movement. "There are signs neo-Nazis are trying to take advantage of such structures, and this needs to be stopped in good time," Schubert said. "Especially given that Wikipedia is too important to jeopardize as an open and self-regulating project."Wikimedia Deutschland, an organization that promotes the Internet lexicon in Germany, flatly rejects Schubert's charge. "We don't really know what Ms Schubert's problem is," Arne Klempert, managing director of Wikimedia Deutschland, told Reuters. "What's important is the context the symbols are used in, and here it's quite clearly education and documentation."Censorship: not-so black and white, is it?%Gallery-11571%From ReutersRelated links:AT&T admits censorship error with Pearl Jam songSatan worshipers drive advertisers from MySpace Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Cell Phones, Traveler, Gift News, Holiday Gift GuideThe new Katalyst from Samsung is the latest phone to get paired with the Wi-Fi powered T-Mobile HotSpot@Home VoIP service. This slim slider has all the standard features you'd expect from a mid-range phone, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, instant messaging, media playback, and more.The Katalyst also comes with a Wi-Fi radio, a necessity for working with T-Mobile's HotSpot@home service. HotSpot@home allows users who are in a Wi-Fi hotspot to switch from standard cellular calls to VoIP (Voice Over IP) service, which passes calls over the Internet and doesn't use up cell phone minutes. HotSpot@Home automatically switches over to Wi-Fi for unlimited free calls when at home or in a T-Mobile hotspot (like those at Starbucks). The phone's included Wi-Fi also means owners can download documents, pictures, and surt the Web at broadband speeds whenever they're in a Wi-Fi hotspot.The Samsung Katalyst, also known as the SGH-t739, should be available immediately on the T-Mobile website for $79.99 with a two-year contract.From T-MobileRelated Links:T-Mobile Finally Getting High Speed 3G?Make Cell Calls Over Wi-Fi and Save MinutesT-Mobile Launches First 3G Phone Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, Video Games, iPod, iPhone, Switched Video, Mobile Software, Home Audio, Portable Audio , desktops, Televisions, CellphoneWant to know where software piracy will get you a death sentence? Listen to our new audio podcast and plan your next vacation accordingly.Plus: E-nups, Wi-Fi in the sky, gadget threesomes, and all the top stories on Switched.com as discussed by the staff -- it's the Switched Show audio podcast. Plus, you can take it with you. On your iPod. Or your Zune. On your Juke. On your laptop. On your ... whatever.You can listen to the show here (mp3) or, even better, you can SUBSCRIBE to our podcasts in iTunes (or via the direct feed, here).Related Links:How To Watch TV Online - For Free Switched Show, To Go Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Computers, Video GamesThis 12 year-old Norwegian boy saved his sister and himself from a moose attack using skills he picked up in the online role playing game 'World of Warcraft.'Hans Jørgen Olsen and his sister got into a spot of trouble when they encroached on the territory of one of these antlered cold weather staples (otherwise known as a moose). When the beast went on the offensive, Hans knew the first thing he had to do was taunt it so that it would leave his sister alone and she could run to safety. "Taunting" is a move one uses in World of Warcraft to get monsters off of the less-well-armored team members.Once he was a target, Hans remember another skill he'd picked up at level 30 in 'World of Warcraft' -- he feigned death. The moose lost interest in the inanimate Hans and wandered off into the woods. When he was safely alone Hans ran back home to share his tale of video game-inspired survival.Make fun of video games all you want, but if one can teach you a skill that saves your (and your sister's) life, then we'd say that was a video game worth playing.From Internode Gaming NetworkRelated links:Subway Beating Caught on Video, Police Tracking AttackersUSB Humping Dog Does Exactly What You Think It Does (to Your Computer)Anti-Mugging "Skirt" Transforms Would-Be Victim Into Soda Machine Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Top Lists, Man / Woman Who Has Everything, Features, Holiday Gift GuideAs far as computer ports go -- and technologies in general -- USB has got to be the friendliest. Not only does it lovingly accept almost any kind of gadget imaginable, it also generously parcels out power to those gadgets so that they don't need to be plugged into a wall. As a result, it's quickly become the de facto interface for our printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPods, thumb drives and every other techno-majig we've come to rely on. However, this ubiquity and good will has led to the misuse of the USB port, which is increasingly being used to juice products that have no business being connected to a computer. In the following pages, you'll find the 10 dumbest miscarriages of the USB port we could find. These doodads are either the hilarious joke gifts for the right person, or useless wastes of plastic and metal that will go right into your gift recipient's trash bin. Thanko USB AshtrayDo you smoke at your desk? Do you often mix up which Red Bull can you're drinking from and which one you're ashing into? Then, it's a lucky thing there's this $16.50 ashtray, which employs a USB-powered motor to suck up the smoke from your nicotine log. Once it hoovers in your smog, the ashtray passes the smoke through two built-in filters to keep your workspace from being damaged by the very same toxins and poisons you're brutalizing your insides with.Next >> Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Cell PhonesAlright, so we don't have much info on this one yet, but we couldn't resist bringing this story to your attention. A substitute teacher in Bixby, OK is accused of using a very unusual teaching aid when subbing in for a class of 14- and 15-year-olds. According to a number of the students, the unnamed teacher took out his cell phone and showed them pornography on it.It's unknown just what sort of porn it was, or where it came from -- these are the sorts of details you can't really expect a local news channel to pursue, apparently. There's no word from the substitute teacher himself, who is no longer working for the school and has directed all contact to his lawyer. A smart move that, much smarter than bringing porn to school and showing it to minors!Well, at least he didn't serve it up at a news conference.From KOTV.comRelated Links: Top Five Raciest Ads On the Web Viewing Porn at Work Even Easier With New Tech Politician Blames Porny PowerPoint on Son  Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Cell Phones, Music Hound, Video Junkie, Creative Type, $250 and Under, Holiday Gift Guide Verizon Wireless recently released the FlipShot by Samsung, a snazzy new 3-megapixel (MP) camera phone with swivel 'technology.' The crisp 240x320 pixel phone display swivels 180 degrees to allow for different viewing angles and easy sharing of multimedia with friends. To activate the camera, you just open the clamshell halfway and swivel the display 90-degrees towards you and begin shooting (similar to the Nokia N93 camera phone). The pictures can be resized from the high-end of 2048x1536 to the low end of 160x120 for ease of sharing videos through text messages and MMS (multi-media messaging), or you can even print them wirelessly using PictBridge. Most phones coming out from Verizon these days support the EV-DO high speed data networkm, and the FlipShot is no exception. You can stream music and video from Verizon's V Cast Music and Video service or even quickly download songs that catch your fancy. You can then store your downloaded songs and video on up to 4 -gigabytes (GB) of memory via the MicroSD slot provided (card sold separately of course).The FlipShot is also quite reasonably priced at $199 with a 2-year contract with Verizon Wireless, and is sure to be appreciated by creative types and amateur shutterbugs everywhere. From BetaNews.com Read | Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, YouTube, Windows Software, Webware, Mac SoftwareAdobe Flash Player just got a bit of an upgrade the other day, one affectionately known as 'Moviestar.' The third update to Flash 9 adds a couple of features that may not immediately mean that much to the average user -- support for the H.264 codec, AAC audio support, and hardware graphics acceleration. So what does that mean for you, the web-video-obsessed public? It means a much greater quality video experience is on the way. Supporting H.264 (the same codec used by Quicktime) means that HD video in your browser is just around the corner. Imagine watching that great video of the skateboarding dog in 1080 lines of resolution. The hardware acceleration in the update also means that better quality video rendering and scaling to full screen will finally make it possible to watch YouTube videos not only in high-def, but also in full-screen high def. These features are even available in the Linux version, which is the first time Adobe has kept the Linux version of Flash current with the Windows and Mac versions.The only problem is the current version of Flash CS3, the application used for building Flash based applications, players and sites, doesn't support the new features, and no time table for an update has been set by Adobe.From BetaNewsRelated links:Christian YouTube is the Fastest Growing Site the NetHow to Watch TV Online - For FreeYouTube's Online Editing Tools Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  Filed under: Video GamesDespite all the stories that claim video games are corrupting our children, plenty of good news regarding video games is also surfacing lately, much of due to Nintendo's charge to expand its market to non gamers. This was spurred on by the success of games like 'Brain Age' among senior citizens, and now the Wii is finding even more success in strange places, like physical therapy offices. Some therapists are now using the device as a fun prescription, a means to force patients to focus on things like balance and coordination and do so in a confined space. The bowling game in 'Wii Sports,' for example, requires good timing and some reasonably precise movements, and, best of all, can be played without swinging a real bowling ball around. The Wii Balance Board, coming to the U.S. sometime next year, should make the console even more attractive, allowing the Wii to chart gamers' balance as they perform simple calisthenics, simulate ski jumps, and play silly games that involve leaning.Now if only if were actually possible to buy one of the things before Christmas.From ReutersRelated Links: Nintendo Targets Women & Grandparents Study Shows Video Games Make Senior Citizens' Brains Sharper Want a Wii for Christmas? Get in Line.  Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments